Walt Disney Productions purchased the film rights to Gary K. Wolf‘s novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? shortly after the book’s publication in 1981, and Disney spent many years trying to bring Who Framed Roger Rabbit to the screen.

In the early 1980’s, Disney developed test footage with animation director Darrell Van Citters with Paul Reubens voicing Roger Rabbit, Peter Renaday and Mike Gabriel as Eddie Valiant, and Russi Taylor as Jessica Rabbit. This was right around the time that Reubens was getting ready to reveal his Pee-Wee Herman persona to the world.

The early test footage was broadcast once on a 1983 Disney Channel show called Disney Studio Showcase, and never seen from again — until now. Thief Archive (via CartoonBrew) has found the footage of the television airing of these early animation tests. Watch the Paul Reubens Roger Rabbit test footage now, embedded after the jump.